Frank Hodgkinson was born in Sydney in 1919. A painter, printmaker, and draughtsman of wide cultural curiosity, he spent extended periods living and working in Europe — particularly in France and Spain — where he absorbed the deep currents of Western art history and brought them into productive conversation with his Australian sensibility. He was a significant figure in the Sydney art world across five decades, respected by fellow artists for his seriousness of purpose and the breadth of his visual intelligence.
Hodgkinson’s work is rooted in a deep engagement with prehistoric and ancient imagery — cave paintings, petroglyphs, ritual marks, and the earliest evidence of human image-making. The horse, one of the great recurring subjects of prehistoric art from Lascaux to the rock paintings of Spain, became a central preoccupation, connecting his practice to the most ancient traditions of mark-making while remaining entirely contemporary in feeling.
Hodgkinson lived near Fred’s studio at Kenthurst during this period, and the proximity fostered a close working relationship and friendship. His prints produced in collaboration with Fred Genis reflect his deepest passions directly. The 1992 series — The Horse Crossed, Hunting Ground, Prehistoric and Romantic Horse, The Horse Lascaux to San Roman, Hunter A, and Hunter B — form a cohesive suite rooted in the imagery of the prehistoric hunt, rendered with the gestural energy and archaeological sensitivity that defined his mature work. Reef One and Paris Soire demonstrate his broader range — the Sydney coastline and the French capital both filtered through the same searching, historically aware intelligence. ions including the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Australia.
Frank Hodgkinson died in Sydney in 2001.
